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Novelist PATRICIA O'BRIEN. She spent twenty years as a reporter for the Chicago Sun Times. In 1988, she worked as Michael Dukakis' press secretary when he ran for president. She now writes novels about women on the inside of Washington power circles. Her latest novel is called "The Ladies Lunch," (Simon and Schuster) about a group of Washington women who meet weekly for lunch, until one of their group, the White House press secretary, dies a violent and mysterious death

2: J. L. CHESTNUT, who in 1958 became Selma, Alabama's first and only black lawyer. Working with the NAACP, he defended activists during the civil rights movement. Since then he's been involved in what he describes as the longer march...turning the victories of the civil rights movement into grass roots change. The law firm CHESTNUT founded in Selma is now the largest black law firm in Alabama. CHESTNUT's autobiography is "Black in Selma" (Anchor), co-authored with Julia Cass, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. This interview was originally broadcast in 1990.

Daniel talks with researcher Ferris Harvey who co-authored a labor department report on child labor in India and Pakistan. This past week, a 12 year old boy who was a vocal opponent to child labor in Pakistan, was murdered. Harvey says millions of children from Bangladesh to Brazil are forced to make many of the products, such as find rugs and carpets, that Americans have come to cherish. And though it's unclear who killed the young Iqbal Masih, Harvey says murders of child labor opponents or agitators aren't uncommon in many parts of the world.

Writer TOBIAS WOLFF. Terry talked with him in 1989 after the release of his acclaimed memoir, "This Boy's Life" about his unhappy upbringing in a working-class town in Washington State in the late 1950s. The book has been adapted for screen; there's now a movie version starring, Robert DeNiro, and Ellen Barkin. WOLFF, who served in Vietnam, later worked as a reporter for The Washington Post, and has also written two highly regarded collections of short stories. (REBROADCAST. Originally aired 1

GARY ORFIELD. He is a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Director of its Project on School Desegration. His report, "The Growth of Segregation in American Schools: Changing Patterns of Separation and Poverty since 1968" was recently issued to the National School Board Association. In 1954 the United States Supreme Court found that the races in America's schools were segregated and the education was unequal. For awhile, integration was on the increase. But ORFIELD has found that today our schools have slipped backward. African American and Latino students are increasingly isolated by both race and poverty. ORFIELD argues that well designed school desegration programs can help.

NPR's Jon Greenberg reports that early this morning the Senate Finance Committee approved the Republican's plan to overhaul medicare and medicaid. The legislation now goes to the Senate floor. The plan calls for senior citizens to pay more in medicare premiums and deductions, and also lets states use block grant to run medicaid, which serves poor women and children and elderly in nursing homes. The Republicans say their plan would reap billions of dollars in savings, thereby saving medicare. President Clinton today said the Republican plan is ill-considered and goes too far.

Alleged drug kingpin, Juan Garcia Abrego (AH-bray-go) is in jail today in Houston, awaiting arraignment on charges of overseeing the distribution of large amounts of cocaine and marijuana in the United States from a base in northern Mexico. Abrego, a U.S. citizen, was deported from Mexico yesterday after being seized by Mexican anti-drug agents. In the United States, the White House has hailed the arrest and deportation. But NPR's David Welna reports the incident has created controversy in Mexico, where Abrego is suspected of involvement in bribery and corruption at high levels of the Mexican government.

Catalina Reyes of member station KUNM reports that the state of New Mexico is trying to shut down Native American casinos across the state. The tribes have been operating casinos under an agreement with the federal government, but state courts have nullified that agreement, insisting that since gambling is not legal elsewhere in the state, it can't be allowed on the reservation. The tribes say they'll blockade highways through the reservation if they're shut down. Both sides have agreed to keep casinos and roads open until a U.S. court decides the matter.

Guenivere Garcia is on death row in Chicago for the 1991 murder of her second husband. She is scheduled to die by lethal injection on January 17th. She has dropped all appeals and says she wants the state to end her life without delay. Garcia has endured sexual and physical abuse throughout her life. NPR's Edward Lifson reports that a number of groups opposing her execution say the state would merely be assisting in Garcia's suicide, while others say if Garcia wants to die, the state should grant her wish.

Today's budget talks have been suspended. Robert Siegel speaks with NPR's Mara Liasson from the White House and Peter Kenyon from Capitol Hill about the why the negotiaitions broke down. Budget negotiators gathered again at the White House today, amid reports from both sides that the talks are on the verge of ending, either with a balanced budget agreement or a failure. Republicans had been hinting that, if they can't reach a settlement with President Clinton, they will bypass him and cut a deal with congressional Democrats to cut spending and taxes.